Read or Die : The Paper Homunculi
by Digi-San2188
Summary: Well i'm not that good with summeries, in fact i make the story sound stupid but its not...well i hope not. rated m for later chapters, please R&R, i'd love to hear what people think of my work!
1. Izzy Takahashi

Izzy never even bothered to look up from his book as he boarded the shuttle for the British Library. He stepped in and quickly found a seat while trying to finish his book. He was headed to the new branch of the British library in Tokyo and would only have several minutes to finish his book which would normally be easy for him. But there was one exception. Izzy was being watched by many of the passengers and he could feel their eyes upon him like an exhibit at the zoo. This would severely distract him.

He appeared to be an average person, that was, to people with skills of his caliber. He was about five foot seven with long black hair, a slightly tanned complexion and lavender colored eyes. His face was rather soft and peaceful looking, sort of innocent though only those who knew him could disagree. His outfit consisted of a white long sleeved shirt cut off at mid-torso with little read designs like borderlines at each hem. He wore a tank top under that and long white pants in the same style as his shirt. His boots were steel toed and pretty heavy, great way to build up his leg strength and of course his lower defensive area and at his waist was a cartridge of paper.

Izzy tried to ignore the feeling of their eyes running up and down his body and continue reading but the though was too distracting. He couldn't concentrate and wanted peace, he wanted them to stop staring at him so that he could just finish his book but didn't want to draw too much more attention to himself. That's when a disgruntled passenger decided that he was going to make a scene and pull a gun out, pointing it at random people and shaking rather badly.

"don't anybody move," the man said, "now, I want all of you to place your belongings into the middle of the aisle and keep you hands where I can see them!"

Izzy now tried to ignore the volume of his voice and continued to read. He was now only two pages away from the end of the book. The man began pacing up and down the aisle grabbing each and every little valuable that he could get. Only half a page from the end now when suddenly the mad took the book from him. Izzy almost rose to protest when the man pointed the gun his way. Soon the man as flipping through the pages, asking about the book and mocking Izzy.

"I suppose this is your alternative to fighting?" the man asked.

Izzy didn't reply. He could feel his blood boiling inside of him and he knew that if he said anything he would explode and it would be all over. The man continued to taunt and mock and provoke. Telling Izzy that he was just another person going nowhere with his head stuck in the books all the time, telling him how he hated books. Then the man did something that shot right through Izzy like a bullet and ignited a flame inside that threatened to burn every person on the shuttle. The man started ripping the pages from the book and seeing the look on Izzy's face smiled and ripped the torn pages into smaller pieces. He proceeded to do this with several other handfuls of paper before Izzy gave in.

He stood straight up and into the aisle ripping sheets of paper from the cartridge and launching them at the mans hand which held the gun. The man screamed in agony as the paper sliced through the gun like a knife through hot butter and then into his hand. Izzy wanted to take advantage of the man now and ripped out the whole cartridge in a line of papers that followed his hand as it ascended toward the ceiling and then was drawn back. As Izzy did so the paper gathered together and formed a large fist connected to his own hand. He thrust his paper fist at the man, knocking him a good ten feet into the air and smack dab into a door at the front of the shuttle. As the paper spread out Izzy willed it to grasp the man as if he were gripping him with his own hand and pulled the man back. When he came back only seconds later the paper around Izzy's hand fell and the paper around the man turned into a web which bound him at the ankles and wrists.

"I wasn't done reading that," Izzy said to the man as the shuttle arrived at the next station. The passengers wasted no time leaving the shuttle while Izzy picked up the excess paper lying around. As he did so he felt a chill run down his spine, as if he was being watched again, this time by something rather than someone.

He turned to see if he could find whatever it was, brushing aside a stray lock of hair and placing whatever paper he hadn't used back into the cartridge. When he found no one he turned back to the bound man and began picking up the paper around his legs at the base of the web.

"there," Izzy said finishing up and looking at the man as if nothing had happened. "now, you get to sit here and wait for the cops. You can tell them anything you like so long as it isn't a lie…well, goodbye!"

Just as he was about to turn the man let out a whimper and in his eyes the reflection of a person with an odd form. When Izzy turned to see who it was he nearly jumped out of his skin. At first glance he looked human, wearing a blue jump suit with the word water on his chest, but taking a closer look Izzy notice that the eyes were slit like a goats and the hand that had been drawn back as if to attack was paper, the fingers pointed like long spikes. As the thing jabbed for Izzy he ducked and it missed, the spikes extending as they were pushed forward. Izzy could feel the air around him chill and the breeze over his head as the hand went right past his head, but that wasn't all he felt. In the moment of panic he had forgotten about the man tangled up in the web but quickly remembered as the spike struck, the man's warm blood splashing onto Izzy.

Izzy took the instant that the creature had missed to his advantage, pulled out the remaining paper from the cartridge and created a short sword, thrusting it through the thing over top of him. But as he thought that it might injure the creature instead it went through as a wide hole formed in the creatures stomach and the closed on the blade, assimilating the paper used for it. The creature frustrated at killing the wrong target picked up the defenseless Izzy and threw him through a window out into the station.

Suddenly people began running all over in panic, screaming just because someone was thrown through a window. That was until that thing came out. It was monstrous now that he could get a good look at it. The thing was huge, built and tall and to top it off, the thing had fangs not like that of a vampire but like those of the tiger families. It opened it's great mouth and let out a hideous sound that was unlike anything Izzy have ever heard before. Like a battle cry when it was done the creature charged at Izzy, its hands changing into great big swords. Totally unprepared for anything like this Izzy ran for his life. He ran through the station with the thing on his heels and out into the street. When out in the opened he continued running for a good twenty blocks before realizing that the creature hadn't seemed to follow this far. When he realized this he decided that maybe he should get to the library before it closed and pay for the book that had been destroyed.


	2. Let the Hunt Begin

When Izzy reached the library he had nearly been run down by a young woman who was running back and forth, following the orders of an ominous voice off in the distance. He walked up to the desk and waited until the woman made another trip back. When she did he tried to get her attention but all was for not. She hadn't even noticed his existence, she just kept running around the library with books piled high in her arms. But even though she hadn't noticed him, he sure noticed her.

Izzy admired the beauty of the young woman as she paced between bookshelves and sighed to himself. She had a personality that seemed to light up even the darkest of situations. To match her beautiful personality she had a beautiful appearance. Her hair was a bright golden color that seemed to wave and glow even without light or breeze, her eyes pickle green, her complexion a nice bronze, and the most wonderfully proportioned body he had ever seen. He couldn't help but to watch as she followed every barking order of the old man that actually ran the library, blistering her cute little feet in those high heels he had gotten her for Christmas the year before and begin to wrinkle the tight black dress that she always wore as a uniform for work.

"ehem," he interrupted, clearing his throat. "excuse me! Miss? Yeah, I have another fee to pay…"

Izzy flinched as he watched her body tense up and drop the books she held at the moment. He knew that that might catch her attention, the only downside was that he has had to pay for seven books in his career as a paper master and she was growing increasingly frustrated with him.

"another," she said, her voice cold and harsh. She turned on her heels to face him, her eyes seeming to be shaded by darkness though the library was brightly lit compared to the dull sky gray outside. She began walking towards him, her toes dragging and oddly appearing as though she was floating. "tell me Izzy…how many books is that now? I should suspend you from checking out any books at all! At this rate the Tokyo branch of the British Library will be empty by the time you reach fifty!"

As she came abreast to him, he was thrust into ecstasy as he caught scent of her sweet perfume. She looked up into his eyes and he into hers, however, her eyes were filled with confusion. She wanted to be angry with him for this was his eighth book that he had to pay for, but she also loved him. That's right, this young lady and Izzy were an item, a rather interesting one at that. They had met at the academy for paper masters in a small tournament between the houses. She was probably the most aggressive attacker he had ever encountered, and as she knocked him to the ground and readied for the finishing blow he had already made it. He had created two paper swords while her eyes were on his and aimed them right at her right lung and touched the other one to her jugular.

"well," he replied the scent continuing to intoxicate him, "I was planning on returning it, Miss Sasaki, but you see…there was this hold up on the train and well, I just had to play the hero…"

He spoke softly and slowly knowing that she was becoming less and less frustrated with him. She watched his lips now as he explained, occasionally moving from them to his eyes and then back, wanting a kiss from him. She drew herself closer to him, feeling his warmth and touching her hands to his baby smooth face, moving all the more closer to him. Izzy felt the urge to do the same, wrapping his arms around her, curling up to her shoulders and then it happened. Their lips needed touch only slightly and open the flood gates. He kissed her passionately his heart fluttering and racing as his blood rushed and body temp raised. He had surrendered to insanity, to the love that they shared and kissed her deeply and unrelentlessly. Everything was perfect, until of course the librarian caught them.

"this isn't high school!" he said after clearing his throat and walking to the desk. " that will be…lets see…fifteen dollars and forty-seven cents. I swear you two need to get it over with and just merry! You're like high school students, grabbing a kiss or two whenever you ca-"

"we are." Izzy said interrupting the old man. He quickly became silent as Izzy and Asami held each other, starring into the eyes of the one they loved. "we are to be wed on July fourth of this year. The same day that we met…"

The old man made no comment but instead of ordering Asami to continue the work he just smiled at them. He remembered when he had fallen in love, it happened only once but it happened. The woman was absolutely astonishing, but as he later came to find, it wasn't meant to be. She had been killed in an accident around the time of their anniversary. He watched with longing eyes, kind of day dreaming about love when suddenly he heard Asami scream and snapped back to reality.

She had touched Izzy on the back where the blood from the man had splashed. His shirt was still wet and as she drew her hand back she saw it. Izzy first thought that she had seen something like a spider or rat…or even worse, the thing he had seen on the train. The thought of that thing popped into his head and he instantly remembered that he was going to notify the librarian about it. Beforehand, however, he had to calm Asami down.

"shhhh…" he said holding her close, cradling her head on his chest as tears fell from her eyes. "its ok, its not my blood. Im sorry I didn't tell you. Shhhhh….its alright…"

Her entire body shuttered as the fear continued to run through her. She had not know about the fight and when pulling her hand back, seeing the blood, she thought that it was Izzy bleeding. Her breathing slowed gradually as Izzy held her and her tears dried up. The old man, seeing this ran around the desk and inquired about where the blood came from.

"don't worry, its not mine." Izzy reiterated, continuing to hold Asami. "I got it in a fight. The hold up on the train. Well that's not all that happened. We really need to talk somewhere not here, there is something strange going down…"

The old man nodded and lead them down several aisles of books before they came to an elevator. When they boarded it and the doors closed Izzy told him what happened. How he had captured the armed man and how as he was picking up the excess paper he had forgotten to protect the man as he was attacked right in from of him. He told him how the thing first appeared human until Izzy took a look at the goat-like eyes and paper arm. Then Izzy told him that when he went to thrust his paper blade through the thing's torso it appeared as paper, opened up, and then assimilated the paper into it's own body. The librarian grimaced as if in pain and then said one name: Suketsune Kobayashi.

Izzy simply assumed that he was a friend or something, a fellow paper master gone bad. Izzy soon found that that wasn't the case as they left the elevator and entered a large command center. The room had to be the equivalent to maybe three city blocks with desks and secretaries all neatly aligned, and at the front of the room, one large screen that currently displayed an image of the globe from space. This wasn't where they were stopping though as they soon realized walking across the room to another door. It was the librarian's office.

"Sir," Izzy said. "Sir, if its ok with you I'd like to go change, I'm a little uh….messy."

The librarian nodded and waved him off as he shuffled through the files in his desk drawers. Izzy quickly found the locker room and began changing. As he was doing so he thought that he had heard someone, though everyone was supposed to be on vacation. As he pulled on his pants and tank top he left his boots and shirt on a bench to go looking around the locker room. The room itself was huge and whoever was in here could be anywhere, but he had to look. After seeing what he had on the train he couldn't help but think that someone was after him and he had to be cautious. He walked through the many aisles before giving up and going back to put on his other shirt and boots, then left the locker room.

When Izzy returned to the office the librarian had pulled out four folders, all pretty thin which meant that they had little information on whomever the documents concerned. Izzy also noticed that there were now three others in the room aside from Asami and the librarian. Two were the paper siblings Mitsuko and Tanjiro Yamada, they were the best in their class. Their skills relied on familiars and exploiting any weakness that an opponent might have. Then there was a young American who was only known to the Japanese as Luca. He was supposedly fairly skilled in all aspects of combat with paper such as familiars and weapons and was also very swift, not to mention he had already hacked the British Library's special forces main frame when he was twelve.

Asami sighed as Izzy entered the room, noticing that he wore the same style suite that he had just changed out of. The only difference was that this one was clean. "what?" he said, looking around at the rest of the paper masters and then back to Asami.

"these are the files I have on Suketsune Kobayashi and whatever sightings of these "Paper Humans" have occurred around the globe." he said spreading them out to the young masters. "I want you to establish any connection between any bits of information you can. I want to know how many of these things there are and I want to know a pattern of appearance. Report back to me tomorrow at noon with whatever you have found. From there we will begin dispatching agents across the globe to try and at least spot something. We cant let this go unchecked because I have a feeling that it has already gotten out of hand…well, you are dismissed until tomorrow."


	3. Kano the Water

Izzy sighed and fell back onto his bed, throwing several papers in the air. The files that had been given to them were practically useless. There was hardly any information in them that could lead the paper masters to the creator of the paper humans nor could it lead them to a reason to the attacks, well, other than the possibility that there were being controlled by the creator. As he lay on his bed a familiar feeling came over him. The feeling was frustration. Generally Izzy was a happy go lucky kind of person, always joking around and having fun, even in battle. These last few hours, however, had seriously changed his attitude and he didn't like it.

"Izzy," Asami said, pulling him from the trance he laid in with just the sound of her voice. "Izzy, what if they're hunters? I mean, you said yourself that you hadn't even noticed it until all of the people were off of the train. And then there was the accidental killing. He was aiming for you, the paper master…all of the paper masters."

Izzy thought about it though there wasn't much to think about, it was simple. They had been created and trained to kill the paper masters. But why? Maybe Dokusensha was back, they had been pretty sneaky in the past, teaming up with the British library and all. Maybe they had hoped that they could do it again and realized that this time it wasn't happening. What if the reason they were hunting the paper masters was to drop the defenses of the British library, to weaken it…

"no," Izzy said under his breath. He now might have an idea of what was going on, and maybe if they were to research further into Dokusensha then they might find something. "Asami. I need to go back to the library. I'll be back in about an hour or so. Just some things I need to discuss with the librarian…"

Asami sighed. She knew he was up to something but didn't argue. Usually when he was serious, if he ever was, it meant to stay out of his way. Now he would never hurt Asami and she knew this as well, but she had the feeling that it was something deep.

When Izzy had reached the library for the second time that day he felt suspicion rise up inside of him. He had the feeling once again that he was being watched but quickly brushed it aside. He had to get to the librarian with his thought before any of the other hot headed paper masters could. As he entered the library he noticed that all of the lights were out. This wasn't very odd because it was late and the library closed around eight in the evening. What was weird was that even though it seemed that the library was closed Izzy entered with no problem.

"Sir?" Izzy called. A chill ran down his spine as he looked around through the darkness. "Sir, are you here? I have something I need to share with you…"

"Please quiet down, I have a head ache." The old man said from one of the aisles. "Over here Izzy. What is it?"

Izzy looked around for any sign of him but found nothing. Then suddenly a light became visible in the non fiction area of the library. Unfortunately for Izzy, that section had been placed near the back of the library which meant a lot of walking. As he walked back he hadn't noticed but all of the books seemed to be moving. Little paper spiders and roaches crawled all through the darkness silently, following him towards the light. A thought ran through his head, _this isn't the librarian. He never gets head aches…he gives them though. _

Izzy was just about to turn the corner into the aisle where the light had been coming from when he noticed a pool of some thick substance. Now in the yellow light he couldn't see very well but he had the faint idea that there might be something around the corner that he didn't want to see. As he bent down to touch the substance and put it under his nose, just to verify what it was, he noticed the paper insects that had been following him, and they were everywhere. They all slowly moved towards him as he stood and backed away into the aisle where the light had been coming from when suddenly something caught his leg and he fell to the floor, nearly yelling in surprise with what lay next to him.

It was the body of the librarian, but it wasn't all there. Instead he had maybe half a head, what was left of his brain seeping out like thick soup, his eyes had been torn from their sockets, his lower jaw ripped right off half of each limb torn from him. There was a hole in the center of his chest where his heart had been and his stomach and intestines had been taken, the content laying all over him. There were also a series of scratches and claw marks on him, the marks reminding Izzy of talons…or the fingers of the paper man he had met on the train.

He stood as quickly as he could without vomiting but just as he did the books right in front of him erupted into a thick cloud then compacting into a hideous face which reminded Izzy of a dragon, without the long jaws and what not. The eyes looked around from Izzy then to the body and then back to the body.

"Holy hell!" Izzy yelled as arms stretched out from the book case, reaching for him.

The giant paper structure roared, a horrible nails on chalk board sound following and then pulled itself from the book case. Izzy hadn't planned to stick around for this and was already off for the door. The creature was too fast, however, and met him there, ready to attack. It balled it's fist up tightly and then launched the mass of paper towards Izzy. He jumped out of the way to avoid being pulverized by the very material that he had been manipulating for years. When the fist impacted with the floor the tile shattered and flew up into the air, shredding parts of the arm and cutting Izzy's face and other bare skin. The creature screamed in agony as if it could feel the pain and Izzy took this time to attack.

He jumped to his feet and grabbed several books all of which exploded into one big cloud of paper. It circled him for a moment and then maybe half of the mass folded up into kunai knives and embedded themselves into the arm, torso and face of the giant creature. In reaction the creature screamed and launched another fist at Izzy who quickly jumped out of the way. This time the fist landed itself right onto a bookshelf, the paper exploding from the books and becoming part of the creature's giant arm. The arm soon formed into a rather large sword which it used to sliced right through the now empty bookshelf and then.

Izzy's eyes widened with terror as the sword came flying towards him with nowhere to go. _No,_ he thought to himself, _I will not go out here!_ And with that he brought up all of the paper around him into a giant cloud which blocked the sword until suddenly from the cloud came a wingless dragon. It was about the same size as the creature that Izzy had been fighting, maybe larger, and had the head of a unicorn. Its main flowed gracefully in a breeze that wasn't there and its long reptilian body wrapped around the arm and torso of the creature that was trying to kill him. The dragon that Izzy had created opened its mouth wide revealing thousands of large sharp teeth and was just about to bite down on the head when Izzy's humanity got the better of him.

He noticed that the paper creature was bleeding from all of the wounds that Izzy had given him with all of the knives he created only moments ago. Izzy couldn't let the creature go just yet but he couldn't kill it either. Instead he had the dragon throw it out through the wall of the library and into the street. People walking along to sidewalks screamed and ran around in confusion. Only a few sat around to see what was happening. As the creature struck the ground it turned back into a person, the excess papers slowly falling form its body. It stood quickly as Izzy jumped from the building and into the streets.

"Who the hell are you?" the paper man cried as the dragon Izzy had created followed up behind him. "How can you manipulate the paper so well, the sword on the shuttle and the dragon here? You are no ordinary paper master I know; I have fought many before you!"

Izzy smiled. "Thanks," he said in a cocky tone. "I must admit I am pretty skilled but I need to know before I kill you, who created you?"

The paper man was now smiling too and instead of backing away as if frightened he now moved closer to Izzy, almost within arms length. He leaned in so that Izzy could hear the whispering voice say "My name is Kano the water, and that is all you need to know." And with that he picked up the excess paper and turned into a giant bird resembling a phoenix, flying into the night sky and disappearing.

When Izzy returned home Asami nearly had a heart attack as she scanned over him seeing the blood and scratches. He had been so tired from the fight and over use of his powers that he had completely forgotten to let go of the dragon which had followed him home. People in the halls whispered in suspicion at the sight of the dragon and even squeaked with fear. Only one was not afraid and that one happened to be a little girl. She walked up to the dragon and rest her hand on the structure, squealing with delight and Izzy had it turn around and nuzzle her, tickling her with the flowing main. The dragon looking down upon her comfortingly as if she were its own child and for a moment Izzy had thought that it was real. But her knew better and it turned back and followed him into the apartment where it fell into nothing but a pile of papers.

Asami ran to the bathroom for the med kit when Izzy fell upon the papers and nearly became unconscious. As he lay there he thought about what he had seen in the library and how he would tell Asami and the others. How could he tell them that the leader of the Tokyo branch was dead and that their assignments would be postponed even though they had worked on them all night?

"Here you go," Asami said and then began dabbing his wounds with hydrogen peroxide. "What happened Izzy? Is everything ok? Was it that paper human again?"

"mm," he groaned as a reply. The cuts and gashes stung as she dabbed but it wasn't like the pain he had felt when he got them, it was more of a relieving sensation. "His name is Kano. That's what he called himself anyway. Man, I hope that there are only the three spotted 'cause his powers were extraordinary. Mph…"

Asami sighed as Izzy fell into a deep sleep and she continued to dress his wounds. She thought to herself, _what kind of creatures are these? If they can take on one of the most powerful paper masters in the world then they have to be well trained…_This was true. Izzy had been named as one of the most powerful paper masters aside from Yomiko Readman, Michelle Chang, Maggie Mui, Anita King, and various others trained under those who had just been named. What made him even stronger, as it did most paper masters, was that he loved to read. Aside from his job at the club in town and in the library, reading was his life.

"Please be ok…" Asami said as she finished dressing his wounds and stared longingly into his closed eyes. "We need you, Izzy…we need you…"

With that she turned out the lights in the living room and went to bed, not wanting to disturb Izzy as he slept.


End file.
